PHNOM PENH (Herald) - Miss Poppy, a transgender actress and VJ for SEATV's "Dem Phum Chong Phum" program who recently won the Anachak Dara Award for Best Gay Actor, has appealed to Cambodians to stop discriminating against her, Rasmei Kampuchea reported Wednesday.

The actress, who attended the awards ceremony sponsored by Sabay Co at the Koh Pich Conference Hall on February 17, told the newspaper that she felt a "great honor" to win the award which made her feel valued.

Before undergoing a sex-change operation in Thailand costing thousands of dollars, Miss Poppy said many people treated her in a discriminatory way with some saying that gay people were not accepted by Cambodian society.

"I felt so hurt by the discrimination and scorn towards me. It led me to rebel and escape from being gay, which is considered by many people as being useless," she told the newspaper.

"In the name of all gay people, everybody please don't discriminate against me anymore. For Poppy, there is no longer any discrimination from my friends. They even love me more than before because I don't like speaking ill of others and always create a happy environment when meeting friends."

Miss Poppy, who has been running "Poppy Hair Salon Shop" for several years, vowed to try her best to perform even better now she is successful and has audience support.

She also appealed to other gay people to be good not and let their fans down even though gay people have not been accepted by society, the newspaper said. a